


I Need You Now, But I Don't Know You Yet

by hellareyna



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Gay Zuko (Avatar), Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Multiple, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27824452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellareyna/pseuds/hellareyna
Summary: Sokka doesn’t believe the spirits control your soul mate. Zuko doesn’t believe the spirits gave him one. A soulmate AU for people who don't like soulmate AUs.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 253





	1. Never

**Author's Note:**

> Title from IDK You Yet by Alexander 23.

Spirit Marks were considered sacred by many. They were a clear gift from the spirits to the human world. Not only that but they were concrete evidence that your beloved was destined to be with you, forever. 

Over half of all people were born without a sign of their soulmate. Hakoda had been a toddler when his first appeared. The spirits had been waiting for the birth of his beloved, Kya. How could someone have a sign that they had a soulmate when they hadn’t yet been born? 

Katara was lucky. She was born with a birthmark on her palm. It was an arrow shape on the back of her hand. The elders saw it as a piece of who Katara’s most beloved would be one day, probably a great and powerful archer. 

Sokka thought it looked just like any birthmark, a simple discoloration in the skin. He had a freckle on the bottom of his foot. No village elder ever told him that that meant the love of his life would have a matching mark or have really strong feet or whatever spiritual hooey they were claiming this week.

But secretly he hoped that his soulmate was just waiting to be born. That hope faded once he reached his 10th birthday and there was still no sign. He couldn’t imagine he would have to wait this long for someone who would love him forever. That amount of waiting felt like a sign that these spirits decided he wasn’t worthy of someone who would be there forever.

So instead he decided to give up. Spirit Marks were just plain birthmarks that someone decided meant something bigger than they were. Sokka thought that because the Spirit Marks interpretations were so vague people could make any mark fit their idea of an ideal soulmate. 

One day, long after his father had left to fight against the Fire Nation, Sokka heard some of the mothers talking. They were talking about their Spirit Marks. All the women seemed to believe that their mark and their husband’s meant they were two halves of one spirit.

“When I first met Suluk I don’t think I could have imagined he would be the father of my baby,” Silla, a mother in his tribe, laughed as she held her baby closer to her chest, “But then one day while watching the otter penguins I noticed how he had a mole on his right wrist. It looked just like a heart. I recognized it because I have that same mole on my left wrist. I don’t think I could have imagined anyone else fathering my children after that.”

The women all agreed with her. They nodded as if it was profound to allow such a small detail to dictate one’s fate. They believed that Suluk and Silla were somehow two halves of a spirit separated in the eons. For them, it was just that simple. While their world was war-torn they thought that somehow the spirits had gotten it all figured out.

Sokka simply rolled his eyes. How many people in the world had lopsided moles on their bodies that they could use to trick people into thinking they were their soulmate? People weren’t made for each other like that. Love had to be earned. It couldn’t be freely given to someone because they were born with freckles in a certain pattern. 

He didn’t care if he met some girl who had a mark on her face spelling out _SOKKA,_ he wouldn’t buy it. Unless she actually understood him and loved him or whatever it meant to be an actual soulmate. That probably wouldn’t even be possible if she was convinced from the beginning that they were meant to be together. He would find his own love his own way without any signs showing him his destiny. That was his own and he would forge it for himself without the help of some _spirit_.

* * *

Zuko was born with a mark the spirits had given him for his soulmate. Or at least his mother told him that’s what the splotchy dark brown birthmark over his heart meant. His father scoffed at the idea anyone would ever find his only son lovable. Zuko found it hard to believe as well, as he grew older. Maybe the spirits didn’t believe he deserved love either. Who even needed a soulmate? 

Royalty certainly didn’t. Most marriages in his family’s past had been arranged. A governor of some colony had a daughter around the age of the prince and then they were introduced. Politics took the romance entirely out of the conversation. It certainly had for his parents.

He wasn’t certain but Zuko had theorized his father didn’t have any sort of markings to indicate a soulmate. It was difficult for him to imagine a younger version of his father looking at some freckles or a mole and speculating about the love of his life. His father was too serious for that. He was above falling in love. He was the Fire Lord, a conqueror of men, not one to succumb to emotions.

Zuko of course didn’t dare ask because he would just be reprimanded for his insolence. How dare he even consider that the almighty Ozai may have an imperfection? Still, he wondered about his father. Every day he told his son that he was unworthy and unlovable. Zuko considered that his father was seeing a mirror when he looked at him.

His mother had instead taught him that not everyone found their soulmate and sometimes the questions posed by their spirit marks were always left unanswered. He never got the chance to ask her what she meant by that. An odd shape on his chest didn’t give him any questions or answers. Perhaps it meant that the only love he would ever deserve was his own. Most days he didn’t even believe he deserved that.

When Zuko was thirteen and Mai was twelve they shared their first kiss. As they parted Zuko saw in Mai’s eyes that it meant much more to her than it did to him. He loved her so much and he had thought that of course, a kiss would show her how much he cared. Instead, he felt nothing. Just skin touching skin. It had almost been mechanical.

Mai defended him against his sister’s cruel jokes. She was Azula’s friend but she didn’t seem to care for her teasing of her older brother. 

In the years since his mother’s disappearance, he hadn’t had anyone looking out for him, save a rare visit from Uncle, and Mai was his guardian spirit. He loved her for how she would stay with him even after he cried in front of her. Azula and his father would have punished him for crying but Mai just sat by him as he cried on her shoulder. That must be what it meant to love someone.

So because she loved him, he kept kissing her. She was his best friend and if she liked it when he kissed her then he would keep doing it. Mai was there for him so he would be there for her. They never mentioned soulmates or whether they were truly meant for each other. Soulmates were for forever and it’s hard to imagine forever when you’re just a kid growing up during a war.


	2. Possibly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't need to but I decided to split this up into three chapters.

“Wake up Sokka before you end up looking like a burnt sea prune.” Katara not so kindly shouted at her sleeping brother.

“Wha-? Huh?” Sokka shook himself awake and he suddenly realized he was not kayaking with his father and a cabbage salesman but instead laying on a blanket in a yard in Ba Sing Se. 

The home they’d been staying at for the past few weeks was lovely, but with three benders who all enjoyed practicing during prime napping hours, it was hard to get any rest. He had been forced to lay out his blanket and a fluffy Earth Kingdom pillow and fall asleep in their yard instead. It wasn’t perfect with the many sounds of the upper ring jostling him awake occasionally but Sokka had fallen asleep under far worse conditions.

Unfortunately today it seemed that a loud ostrich horse was the least of his concerns. The strong mid-day sun had left him with a sunburn on his right side. Specifically his face.

“Now that I have a better look at you I actually think you look perfect. I’ve heard the ladies of the upper ring are really into guys who look like….” Katara giggled, “Whatever you’d call this.”

“Oh shut up,” Sokka growled, his voice thick with sarcasm, “I bet all the _boys_ in Ba Sing Se _love_ girls with hair loopies.”

Katara only laughed, “From what I’ve seen they definitely do the job.”

“Oh gross,” He did not want to hear anything about his sister and _boys_ , “Now will you help me with your water healy magic stuff?”

“It’s just called healing.”

“Whatever. Can you just do it for me, please? This is starting to hurt real bad.” He shouldn’t have teased his sister that would only make her take longer to help him out.

“Not before everyone gets to see it.”

“Oh c’mon,” Sokka groaned and then slapped his forehead, another mistake, “Oooh ooh OUCH.”

“What did you do now Snoozles?” Toph cackled as they reached the back door of the house.

“Ouch,” Aang winced sympathetically, “Sokka why didn’t you set out an umbrella so you wouldn’t get burnt.”

“Gee thanks I wish I’d thought of that. Katara, they've both seen it. Can you do your healing now?”

“I haven’t seen it actually.”

“Toph!” He was exasperated and didn’t want to deal with her jokes. 

Katara explained to Toph how her brother had burnt half his face because he fell asleep in the midday sun. They both laughed. Sokka laid down on some pillows and groaned. 

He knew it had been foolish not to protect his skin but he was used to the South Pole summers where you embraced every bit of sun you got because soon it would be Winter and there would be no sun at all.

Katara grabbed her water pouch from her room and brought it to the common room and sat next to Sokka. She began bending it over his face. It felt kind of weird especially since he had to close his eyes. The sensation was soothing but in a weird way. The water was cool against his burned skin.

“I don’t know if I can heal it completely or just stop the pain. I’ve never tried to heal a sunburn before so I don’t know what to expect.”

“That’s ok, so long as I don’t end up looking like Zuko.”

Katara laughed, “It’s even on the right side. You have much better hair than him though so I think it will be alright.”

He laughed. Last year he couldn’t have imagined being here, in the Earth Kingdom capital city with his sister who was now a master water bender. Their companions were twelve-year-old blind earth bending master, the avatar who despite being one hundred twelve years old appeared to be only twelve, and a ten-ton flying bison. He was part of a mission to save the entire world from the Fire Nation, but right now he was just focused on letting Katara heal his face.

* * *

Zuko didn’t ask about the new addition to Sokka’s face for the first week he stayed with them. It seemed weird to bring up. How could he even start that conversation? _Hey, when I was trying to kill you, you didn’t have freckles and now you do. What’s up with that._

But a war balloon trip that lasted from dawn to dusk gave you plenty of time for conversation. Most of that time they instead chose to glance awkwardly at one another. Zuko hated small talk. Somehow after telling him about Mai and Sokka telling him about his ex (or maybe that wasn’t the right word) girlfriend, he felt as if some barriers had fallen and he could ask the other boy about it.

“What happened?” Zuko asked while gesturing vaguely at his own face.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Sokka said, a bit too proud of himself until Zuko scowled back, “Okay nevermind the scar is something we don’t ask about. Got it. But yeah my new freckles. Toph says they’re adorable. A comment that would be a lot nicer if Toph could actually see.”

Zuko laughed, “so she says stuff like that to everyone, not just the sons of guys she wants to kill?” 

Sokka smiled, nodded, and continued, “We were staying in Ba Sing Se. But of course, you already knew that. Um, well, one day I decided it would be nice just to lay out in the sun. I must have gotten too comfortable because I fell asleep. On my side. And got sunburnt. The burn healed with some reluctant help from Katara. And now, all these months later I still have all these freckles on this side of my face.”

“It’s better than other marks burns can leave you with,” Sokka looked a bit shocked at Zuko’s comment as if he didn’t know the prince had the ability to make jokes, “It’s okay, you can laugh. I know what I look like.”

Sokka smiled, he looked more at ease from the casual conversation. Zuko hoped he wasn’t as suspicious of him as he had when he had first arrived at the air temple. It was hard to determine because Sokka seemed to show his friendship by mercilessly teasing his friends. Zuko didn’t know if he should be offended by him or pleased that he was finally part of the group.

“You don’t have to tell me how you got it since that seems to be a bit touchy, but can you even see with that scar?” Sokka didn’t hide his bluntness.

Zuko closed his undamaged eye and looked at Sokka. He could see the white clouds behind him but they didn’t look like clouds. It looked as if Sokka was standing in front of a white wall. He could see Sokka’s face, but the details were a bit blurry. Everything to his right was a blur. 

“I can see enough.”

“Okay how about I test you?” 

Zuko wasn’t sure what that meant but they still had plenty of time till they reached Boiling Rock so he nodded reluctantly, “Go ahead.”

“First you have to cover up your good eye.” Zuko winked his eye shut. “Ah-ah-ah, no peeking allowed. You should cover it with your palm.”

Zuko did as he was told and covered up his eye, “Is this the test?”

Sokka ignored him, “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Zuko rolled his eyes, “Three. It doesn’t work like that. I can still see, just not as well.”

“Okay, how about now?”

Sokka held up his hand again. This time it appeared that he was holding his fingers close together as if his hand was a mitten. Zuko squinted to see if he had bent a finger towards his palm, but he couldn’t discern any difference. It all looked the same.

“Four fingers?” He guessed hoping he wasn’t making a fool of himself.

Sokka laughed at him. It wasn’t like other laughs he had heard directed towards himself. It wasn’t like the cruel laugh of Azula or the hearty laugh of his uncle. There was no cruelty behind it. Sokka had a childlikeness to his laugh that Uncle had lost and Azula had never had. 

“Nope, just two this time.” 

Zuko dropped his hand from covering his eye, “Well I guess you now see how blind I am.”

“That’s not a bad thing. Toph is totally blind and she invented a whole new type of bending.”

Zuko nodded. Toph was so small he could barely believe some of the stories they told about her adventures. She wasn’t even four feet tall and yet she exuded strength. He had seen her aide Aang in fixing parts of the temple that had fallen into disarray over the decades. Her blindness wasn’t a hindrance to her bending but instead, it enhanced it.

He knew his poor eyesight didn’t make him less of a fire bender. That wasn’t it. He had no peripheral vision on his right side. That meant he was weakened and at a disadvantage constantly. It wasn’t just when he battled with his bending or his swords but even as he walked the streets of a new place. Unlike Toph, he could not find other ways to see. 

It was so visible to others as well. A mark on his skin that reminded him every day of the worst day of his life. While others had marks on their skins that led them to their other half, Zuko had a disgusting burn that reminded him of his father’s abuse.

“It’s not the same as Toph’s blindness.”

Sokka thought for a moment, “I guess not seeing as you’re not an earth bender. It must have been easier for Toph to learn when the original earth benders were blind as well. Can you imagine her as a fire bender or a water bender?”

Zuko shuttered at the thought of Toph’s unbridled power expressed through flames or floods.

“I prefer not to,” He joked.

Sokka smiled, “You do have a sense of humor. I didn’t know people in the Fire Nation were allowed to have those.”

“We’re simply taught not to. My uncle is one of the funniest people I’ve met and he’s from the Fire Nation.”

“Yes, but most people you know are from the Fire Nation so that’s not very significant.”

Zuko nodded, “That’s fair, but most people I know from the Fire Nation have never been able to continue joking when captured by soldiers,” he paused for dramatic effect, “while naked.”

Sokka’s eyebrows shot up, “Now this is a story I gotta hear.”

Zuko was glad to have found something Sokka was interested in and he began to tell the story of how Uncle had been caught bathing in hot springs by Earth Kingdom soldiers.

* * *

The two were sitting at the beach. Zuko sunk his toes in the water while Sokka splashed him playfully. He smiled. It was so easy to smile with Sokka. Zuko may have helped Sokka train with the sword but Sokka taught him how to relax. He laid back into the sand, not even thinking about the sand in his hair. He lifted his foot up to rest on his knee.

“What’s that?” Sokka pointed to the bottom of his foot.

“My foot?” Zuko laughed.

Sokka rolled his eyes, “No, I know that. I mean on the bottom of your foot there’s a pebble stuck or something.” 

Zuko sat down to examine his foot closely. He swatted at what appeared to be a pebble from the nearby ocean but it didn’t budge. It must be a freckle or a mole or something.

“Oh, that’s just a freckle. That's weird. I’ve never noticed it before.”

Sokka stayed silent. An unusual thing for him. What had Zuko done wrong now? Was he breeching some sort of Southern Water Tribe custom he didn’t know about? Were freckles taboo? His anxieties raced in his head. So much for relaxing on the beach with his friend.

“I have to go.” Sokka quickly stood and walked back towards where the others had gathered on the beach playing in the sand.

Zuko slumped back down into the sand, placed his hands over his eyes, and quietly groaned. Why couldn’t he ever do anything right? It seemed he was just incompetent in any social situation. 

He didn’t even know what he did wrong here, but it was definitely his fault. Maybe if he just waited here as the water came and splashed his legs the problem would solve itself. Sokka would forget about whatever Zuko did wrong and it would all be okay. That seemed like the only thing he could do at the moment.

He usually didn’t trust hoping for the best, but he had changed. He was supposed to be positive now, he couldn’t think negatively when there were just a few days till Aang had to fight his dad and end this war. There was no room to worry about why Sokka was being weird. 

He would think about that once this war was over. Once his father was defeated and couldn’t hurt anyone else he could then focus on himself. Now he needed to help train Aang and fight in this war. For now, all thoughts of Sokka and the butterflies that accompanied his presence would be ignored. They didn’t matter. Feelings tended to just slow him down.

When he had been with Mai he had just felt so mixed up inside. He couldn’t understand himself when he was with her. Perhaps the pressures of war didn’t make for the best environment to make a relationship, but he didn’t see the two of them having worked things out even during peace times. 

He glanced over at Sokka and Suki across the beach. They were laughing together as Sokka chased his girlfriend with something slimy that had washed up on the beach. Katara, Aang, and Toph were working on a sandcastle nearby. They seemed to be cheering either Suki or Sokka on as they chased one another. 

They made it look so easy. He didn’t have that with his friends back in the Fire Nation, but he wanted it. No, he needed it, badly. He needed someone who he could be himself with and didn’t have to put on any mask when he was around them. Too often being around people felt like work, trying to decipher all the cues and making sure not to upset them. 

Only Uncle had accepted him when he let down all his guards. He hadn’t cared about Zuko’s awkward moments. It didn’t upset him when his nephew got confused by something he had said. They had understood one another and Zuko had gone and ruined that. He didn’t think he’d get a chance with someone else.


	3. Definitely

It was late and Sokka was talking with his friends in one of the many gardens in the Fire Nation Palace. Toph had gone in a bit earlier, explaining that she had an important meeting with some construction group tomorrow morning. Sokka thought it was more likely she just didn’t want to deal with Aang and Katara, who were currently leaning against Appa and being disgustingly romantic. 

Aang had just begun braiding Katara’s hair when he decided he had enough of it, “Just because you two think you guys are soulmates or spirit connected or whatever hooey doesn’t mean you need to remind everyone else every ten seconds.”

“Sokka, you don’t believe in soulmates?” Aang sounded appalled by Sokka’s outburst.

“Of course not. What do some hokey spirits know about me that I don’t already know?” 

“Sokka, you’ve literally been to the spirit world. How do you still not get it?” Katara rolled her eyes at her older brother.

“You weren’t there Katara. They didn’t seem very smart to me.” He retorted.

“You do realize Aang is part spirit?” Katara still sounded quite condescending.

“Yes, but he’s also part human and that part of him is much more logical.”

“I don’t know Sokka. I think the spirits have it right with soulmates. I wasn’t born with this mark,” he pointed to the discoloration just below his adam’s apple, “because the spirits hadn’t found someone for me yet. It wasn’t until I came out of that iceberg that I had it because now I had a soulmate.”

Katara blushed at her boyfriend’s confession and held his hand closer to her. The two of them had seen the signs of possible Spirit Marks early on but neither had said anything about them until they had finally gotten together. 

Sokka was grateful for that because although they were a great couple he didn’t know if he could have managed a year of them gushing over one another with only Momo and Appa to commiserate with about it. Toph didn’t quite get it since she couldn’t see how mushy they were being together.

“Okay okay, I’m still here. I don’t want to see all of that.”

Katara rolled her eyes, “I had to deal with you and Suki making eyes at one another. I’m sure you can find a way to deal with me and Aang.”

“Katara, I’m sure he’s just jealous because your soulmate actually did something about the _obvious_ signs.”

Katara laughed at Aang’s comment and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek as if to prove a point. 

“But I don’t know who my soulmate is,” Sokka uttered.

“I thought you didn’t believe in soulmates?” Katara raised an eyebrow, teasing her brother.

“I don’t, but if I did I would know who they were.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Katara continued teasing him.

“Clearly not, seeing as I don’t know who they are!” Now Aang began laughing as well, “Can the two of you stop? This isn’t as funny as you think.”

“Sokka, have you looked in a mirror lately?” Aang sounded a little too proud about that comment.

“Yeah, and I still look just as devastatingly handsome as always. Is that a clue or something?”

“No, but the giant splotch of freckles around your eye definitely is,” Katara shot back.

“What does that mean? I don’t know anyone else with a giant splotch of freckles on their face.”

“But do you know someone who has a mark around their eye?” She sounded like she was talking to a child.

“Well yeah Zuko but,” Sokka froze. 

His stomach dropped. It seemed his hands were suddenly too sweaty. No, that wasn’t possible. Zuko was _not_ his soulmate. 

That was impossible. It had only been a few months since Sokka had gotten the sunburn that gave him all those freckles. Zuko was already sixteen when that had happened. Spirit Marks first appear when your soulmate is born and Zuko was older than him so he should have been born with a mark. It was impossible.

But then he remembered the freckle he had seen on the bottom of Zuko’s foot. It matched exactly to a freckle on the bottom of his own foot. When he had noticed that, it had made him start thinking, but then he had left in a hurry and chose to forget about what it could mean. 

What he hadn’t been able to forget about was what he felt when he was around Zuko. He made him laugh. They always had such easy conversations, even in the beginning when he was still a little scared by him. Not just their conversations. Even silence with Zuko was enjoyable and seeing how much Sokka loved the sound of his own voice, that meant a lot.

Sokka finally spoke again, “Hey Aang, since you’re half spirit do you know if Spirit Marks can appear even after your soulmate was born?”

“I’m not sure, but I do know that people can have rebirths. After a big transformation in someone’s life, their marks can fade. I haven’t heard about someone getting a new one after their soulmate is already born but I’m sure it can happen.”

“Well, I didn’t go through any big transformation before I got these freckles.” 

He still felt so confused. Zuko, _his_ soulmate. How was any of this possible? How was he, some Southern Water Tribe kid, destined to be with the leader of an entire nation?

“You did travel the whole world with the Avatar. Then stop an invasion of Ba Sing Se after having traveled the Serpent’s Pass. That’s pretty life-changing. I mean considering I also did that I think I have a say in whether you experienced a transformation.” Katara pointed out.

“But how does that make me more worthy to be with Zuko?” 

This was a lot to take in and even saying that aloud a few minutes ago would have been insane. It was insane that he was even taking all of this seriously. Spirits decided he should be with the Fire Lord?

“Maybe it wasn’t about you,” Aang said, much softer than his jokes he had made earlier, “Zuko also went through a transformation then. He was working with his uncle in a tea shop for months. That must have changed him. He even helped us find Appa. Sure, he ended up betraying us again, but that city definitely changed him.”

It all made sense in a strange sort of way, “I need to go find Zuko,” Sokka declared. He stood and sped off to find Zuko. Hopefully, he would be in his chambers seeing as Sokka didn’t know how to find many places in the maze that was the palace.

* * *

Zuko finally exhaled as he entered his chambers. So much was changing since his coronation but he found comfort in the same bedroom he’d had since he was a child. Some of his advisors had explained that this was a room for a prince, not a Firelord, but Zuko had brushed them off. He didn’t feel the need to go back into his father’s room ever again.

Once he sat on his bed he began removing the heavy robes that were now required of him every day. They were thick and too warm for the Fire Nation sun, but he had already broken enough traditions so he decided this wasn’t a battle worth fighting. If his ancestors had thought it was necessary for a Fire Lord to wear heavy garments for the sake of appearances even in the hottest summers, he could manage. 

Just as he had finally stripped to just his tunic and pants he heard a jostling at his door. Zuko groaned. 

His last meeting of the day had already gone an hour over schedule and then he had barely been awake enough to eat his dinner, whatever this was better be urgent. He stood, reluctantly, to greet whoever had decided they were important enough to disturb the Fire Lord in his chambers so late at night. 

Then Sokka walked into the doorway. He looked frantic. Maybe he had left something in Zuko's chambers earlier, he knew how the other boy liked to explore the palace. 

When he finally stopped pacing and looked Zuko in the eyes he blurted out, “When exactly did you get that freckle on your foot?”

“Huh?” 

It was nearly midnight. Zuko was too exhausted to know if this was his own exhaustion confusing him or Sokka was just being strange. It could be both he realized.

“Did you get it this year?” Sokka blurted out again, still not clarifying anything.

“Sokka, I have no idea what you are talking about. Can you please slow down and explain what is going on right now.”

Sokka took a deep breath, “I have a freckle on the bottom of my foot too. In the same spot as yours, I think. Then when I was in Ba Sing Se I got this,” He gestured at the freckles on his face and then took another deep breath, “I think you’re my soulmate. Well, actually Aang and Katara think you’re my soulmate. I’m still processing everything at the moment.”

Zuko went back to his bed and sat down. He had been trying so hard to not think about how he felt about Sokka and now here it was, coming from Sokka. For so long he had been led to believe he didn’t have a soulmate and even if he did it would matter. Now _he_ was the Fire Lord. It didn’t matter if someone wanted him to marry a noble’s daughter because he was the one in charge. 

If he wanted to he could be with someone who hadn’t rejected him when he saw he was broken but instead had tried to understand. Sokka was passionate and caring and intelligent and handsome and still standing just a few feet away from Zuko, awaiting some kind of response from him. He should probably give him one he realized. Awkwardly, he walked to where the other boy was standing and fidgeting.

“So that’s why you were being so weird when you saw my foot on Ember Island?”

Sokka awkwardly shrugged, “Yeah. It kinda scared me. I thought if I pointed it out you would get weirded out and not want to talk to me anymore.”

“Sokka, I don’t care about a freckle on your foot, but I do care about you.”

“Zuko, it’s not just some stupid freckles on my face or my foot. It’s the fact that I feel at ease when I’m with you. I don’t even need to say anything and you know my next move. You knew me before I’d even let you know me. I want to be with you because I like you. The Spirit Marks just helped me figure it out.”

There was silence. Sokka stepped closer and Zuko followed. Suddenly Sokka’s arms were around his shoulders and he was holding Sokka’s waist. Their lips pressed softly and then they both relaxed and pushed further into the kiss. Zuko exhaled but kept holding Sokka and pressed their foreheads together. 

He spoke softly, their faces still only centimeters apart, “I always thought I didn’t have a soulmate, and even if I did it could never happen. But I do have one. I’m so glad it’s you Sokka.”

Sokka smiled, “Aang and Katara are never going to let me forget this.”

“That’s okay because I’ll never let you forget it either.”

Sokka groaned as he tried to hide his smile. He was beautiful, Zuko thought to himself, and he was his. So he closed the gap between him once again and held him closer because this was his soulmate and he had found someone who cared for him not just because of the spirits but because of who he was as a person. They weren’t made for one another but they grew into people meant for each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this seeing as it was my first shot at writing Zuko. I may have projected a bit too much of my social anxieties onto him but that's pretty in line with canon so I guess it's fine. Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


End file.
